Plenary

(1 CE) Intended Audience Level: Introductory

Presenters:

Mark McMinn, PhD is the Director of Integration and Professor of Psychology in the Graduate Department of Clinical Psychology at George Fox University in Newburg, Oregon. Dr. McMinn is a Fellow and Past President of Division 36 (Psychology of Religion) of the American Psychological Association. He serves as the Academic Representative to the Board of CAPS and is a past recipient of the CAPS Narramore Award for Integration of Theology and Psychology. He is a prolific writer and has published in numerous professional journals; a sampling of his books include: Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality in Christian Counseling; Sin and Grace in Christian Counseling: An Integrative Paradigm, and Integrative Psychotherapy: Toward a Comprehensive Christian Approach.

Edward Welch MDiv, PhD is the director of the School of Biblical Counseling at the Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation, and Professor of Practical Theology at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, PA. He holds the PhD in Counseling Psychology with a Neuropsychology specialty from the University of Utah, as well as a Masters in Divinity from Biblical Theological Seminary. He has written many books and articles on biblical counseling, including When People are Big and God is Small; Addictions: A Banquet in the Grave; Blame it on the Brain; Depression: A Stubborn Darkness, and Running Scared: Fear, Worry and the God of Rest.Summery: Some Christian psychologists choose integration as a paradigm for their professional work. Others approach their professional work with different paradigms, noting various troubles with an integration approach. In this plenary presentation, two psychologists describe their professional choices. One (McMinn) has pursued integration, the other (Welch) biblical counseling. While there may have been a time when integrationists and biblical counselors resorted to caricatures and misrepresentations of one another, this seems to be fading, with genuine conversations now taking place. This presentation is part of an ongoing effort at open, civil narrative and dialog between psychologists with differing perspectives on the integration of psychology and Christianity.

Learning Objective 1

As a result of the presentation participants will be able to recognize integration as one professional paradigm for how Christian psychologists may choose to do their work.

Learning Objective 2

Attendees will discover the essential differences between an integration and biblical counseling approach.

Learning Objective 3

Attendees will consider means of civil professional discourse between those choosing different ways of relating faith and psychology.

Friday Morning PlenaryDiscoveries and Expanded Outreach to Couples

(1 CE) Intended Audience Level: Introductory

Presenter

David Olson, PhD is the internationally-known founder and President of PREPARE/ENRICH, Life Innovations, Inc. He holds licenses as both a Family Psychologist and Marital & Family Therapist, and is a Professor Emeritus in the Family Social Science department at the University of Minnesota. He is a Past President of the National Council on Family Relations, and Fellow in both the American Psychological Association and the American Association for Marital & Family Therapy. Dr. Olson has authored 20 books and 100 professional journal articles, and developed 10 assessment tools (including FACES, PREPARE and ENRICH) used in marriage and family counseling and research. Summary: Recent discoveries about couples, based on research with PREPARE ENRICH instruments, will be explored. Some new ways to expand your practice and outreach to couples will be discussed. New subscales for these classic tools will be introduced, including the SCOPE Personality assessment, Stress Profile, commitment and forgiveness scales and abuse issues scales. The value of couple assessment and the usefulness of couple types will be highlighted, featuring the Couple Checkup.

Learning Objective 1

To describe the major scales in PREPARE/ENRICH and new discoveries with these scales.

Learning Objective 2

To describe five reasons to use couple assessment.

Learning Objective 3

To integrate the Couple Checkup into their clinical practice.

Friday Luncheon Plenary Tearing Down the Walls

(Luncheon included in Registration Fee; No CE)

Speaker

Shane Claiborne is a bestselling author and prominent Christian activist. With tears and laughter, Shane Claiborne unveils the tragic messes we’ve made of our world and the tangible hope that another world is possible. Shane graduated from Eastern University, and did graduate work at Princeton Seminary. His ministry experience is varied, from a 10-week stint working alongside Mother Teresa in Calcutta, to a year spent serving a wealthy mega-congregation at Willow Creek Community Church outside Chicago. During the recent war in Iraq, Shane spent three weeks in Baghdad with the Iraq Peace Team. Shane is also a founding partner of The Simple Way, a faith community in inner city Philadelphia that has helped to birth and connect radical faith communities around the world.Shane writes and travels extensively speaking about peacemaking, social justice, and Jesus. He is featured in the DVD series “Another World Is Possible” and is the author of the several books including The Irresistible Revolution; Jesus for President; and Becoming the Answer to Our Prayers. Shane speaks over 100 times a year in a dozen or so countries and nearly every state in the US. Shane has given academic seminars at Vanderbilt University, Duke University, Pepperdine University, Wheaton College, Princeton University, Goshen College and Harvard University. Shane also speaks at various denominational gatherings, festivals, and conferences around the globe. Shane’s work has been featured in everything from Fox News and the Wall Street Journal to CNN and National Public Radio.

Friday Evening BanquetNinjas, Zombies and Christian Psychology

(no CE; must pre-purchase tickets…join us for an evening of great food, entertainment and an after-dinner talk/roast bound to be the topic of conversation for weeks!)

Speakers

Everett Worthington, PhD is a mentor, teacher, and friend par excellence! As Professor of Psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University, he has touched the lives of hundreds of students. He has published over 250 refereed papers and scholarly chapters. He has written or edited 25 books. He has served as President of Division 36 (Psychology of Religion) for the American Psychological Association, and was the founding editor of Marriage and Family: A Christian Journal. Dr. Worthington has won several awards for sustained professional teaching-research contributions, for teaching-mentoring, and for scholarship and teaching—including VCU’s Award for Excellence. He won both the Distinguished Member Award and Narramore Award for Integration of Theology and Psychology for CAPS, and received the first Gary R. Collins Excellence in Christian Counseling Award from the American Association of Christian Counselors. He won the APA Division 36 Virginia Sexton Award for Mentoring and his advisees have (since its inception in 1997) won once and been finalists four other times for the APA Division 17 Outstanding Graduate Student Award. Two of his graduate students won APA Early Career research awards. Dr. Worthington has won numerous awards and grants, and he has been identified as in the top 20 productive Counseling Psychologists.

Jennifer Ripley, PhD is one of Ev’s former students and “president of his fan club”. She is also a beloved teacher and mentor. Dr. Ripley is a licensed psychologist and Professor of Psychology at Regent University in Virginia Beach, VA. She is a dedicated researcher who has published numerous book chapters and articles in professional journals, many recent articles being on hope-focused couples therapy. Dr. Ripley has twice served as program chair for Division 36 of the American Psychological Association. She is a former CAPS board member, and serves as associate editor of case studies for the Journal of Psychology and Christianity.

Summary

The “supervisor as ninja” is the paradigm of our banquet after-dinner talk/roast. Dr. Worthington will discuss how mentors and supervisors are somewhat shrouded in mystery, but lead lives to inspire, protect and defend Christian psychology. Dr. Ripley will lead a discussion of how the spread of Christian psychology has been a process of mentoring-based replication much like the living dead. Warning: attending this presentation may involve adopting a ninja lifestyle or infection of Christian psychology zomby-ism.

Saturday Morning PlenaryHealing Others, Healing the Self: Reflections on the Values and Overall Goals of Psychotherapy

(1 CE) Intended Audience Level: Intermediate

Presenter

Nancy McWilliams, PhD is an internationally-known psychologist and psychoanalyst; her private practice is in New Jersey. She has authored numerous professional journal articles and books, including her latest book, Psychoanalytic Diagnosis: Understanding Personality in the Clinical Process. Dr. McWilliams is a Professor at the Graduate School of Applied & Professional Psychology, Rutgers University and faculty member at the National Training Program in Contemporary Psychotherapy. She is on the editorial board of Psychoanalytic Psychology and on the board of consultants for Psychoanalytic Review. Dr. McWilliams is a Past President of Division 39 (Psychoanalysis) of the American Psychological Association. The recipient of numerous awards and honors, especially for her work in psychoanalytic psychotherapy, Dr. McWilliams is featured in several APA-produced videos. She is widely cited and interviewed and has appeared on the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric and on National Public Radio.Summary: Numerous current pressures distract therapists from thinking in terms that go beyond symptom relief. Contemporary therapists are under significant pressure to construe the aims of psychotherapy in terms of symptom relief and behavior change. Such a formulation reflects the interests of the insurance and pharmaceutical industries, each of which has a stake in defining psychological health narrowly, as the absence of documentable symptoms and problematic behaviors. It may also reflect a conflation between the needs of researchers to operationalize therapy outcomes in statistically manageable ways and the needs of therapists to respond to the overall life struggles of unique and complex clients. There has been a subtle paradigm shift in the field away from defining psychotherapy as a healing relationship, in which numerous technical interventions might be helpful, to defining it as the application of specific procedures to specific disorders. Integrating both traditional and recent scholarship, Dr. McWilliams will reflect on the sacred space that psychotherapy creates for growth in both client and therapist and on the challenge of helping our clients become their best selves, not simply their asymptomatic selves.

Learning Objective 1

After this presentation, participants will be able to discriminate between research paradigms and clinical paradigms and avoid misapplying the former to the latter.

Learning Objective 2

After this presentation, participants will be able to describe evolving concepts of mental health and some controversies that have attended them.

Learning Objective 3

After this presentation, participants will be able to translate to their therapeutic work sixteen elements of overall psychological maturity.